Circuits and Neurons
by Matarra
Summary: What if the AIs were originally humans? What if, when Ignis sealed away Cyberse, the rest of the AIs were forced back into their human bodies? What if most of them lost their memories? With SOL and KoH coming to a head, Yusaku tries to unleash Cyberse with help from his friends, all while dealing with haunting dreams of the very place he is trying to rediscover.


**Okay, so this is based off a theory about the AIs' connection to Yusaku and the other kidnapped/brainwashed/whatever children(the series wasn't clear on what exactly the deal was with that scene). Probably not how the series is going, but AUs are a thing for a reason!**

 **By the way, no, there are not OCs in this, just names made up for characters who haven't been given them.**

 _"Should we call Ignis?"_

 _"No, I'm still pissed at him."_

 _"Maybe we can invite him when he hasn't just pulled a stupid prank on all of us."_

 _"I think "prank" should be in quotations."_

 _Everything suddenly turned red, then the screaming started. Memories and events clashed together at once,_

 _"MIDORI!"_

 _"AOI!"_

 _"I- it will be okay, just relax, it will all be—"_

 _"Kiiro? Aka? Orenji?! Aoi?! Anyone?!"_

Midori's eyes shot open and his hand flew up to his chest, trying to stay his breathing. Where was he? What was this place? He should be—

Oh. Right.

He pushed himself up and buried his face in his hands. He hadn't experienced one of those night terrors in a while, why now? Scratch that, he knew why. Ignis was back. Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate, Ignis was always back, he was just running fast enough that no one on either side could capture him. But now, his luck ran out and a third party had him. Playmaker: that elusive duelist with a vendetta against the Knights of Hanoi. Before, Playmaker was an ally to SOL, an asset, even if he wasn't officially on their side. But now, he was in competition with them over control of Ignis, as the higher-ups put it. Midori hated that terminology. Were they in control of him? No! He worked for them, he got a paycheck from them, but he wasn't their slave. He worked with them because they were the best option. He was the same as Ignis, even if most people didn't see it that way, and if they weren't in control of him, they would certainly never be in control of Ignis. Besides, it was _Ignis_. That AI was obnoxious and had issues with taking orders, to put it lightly. If the higher-ups at SOL thought he could be controlled, they had another thing coming.

However, Midori would much rather have Ignis at SOL than with Playmaker. He didn't like some independent party having Ignis as their captive. He didn't know what Playmaker wanted him for, and that was perhaps the most troubling thing. The Knights of Hanoi wanted the location of Cyberse from him, then they would probably kill him. SOL wanted the same thing, but they would keep him alive and use the Cyberse as before to keep Link VRAINS up and running, which was a win-win for everyone involved. They had even agreed to give Ignis over to his care once they attained him. In return, he'd serve them faithfully and do what they wanted. Well, actually, he'd attain their goals, but do things the way he wanted. Look, he got results, okay? They learned long ago to get off his back and let him do things his way. He was an AI, he thought faster than them, he made decisions faster. Or… he used to. Granted, he was operating at a fraction of his usual speed ever since… the incident with Cyberse, but he was still a few steps ahead of most humans.

Midori laid back in bed and stared moodily up at the ceiling. Idly, he wondered when the last time he called himself by this name was. It had to have been months, he admitted to himself sadly. He had been so busy lately, he hadn't really taken any time for himself, and since no one else used his real name anymore, he hadn't heard it in a while.

He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep, but just couldn't. He groaned and swung his legs out of bed then got up to make himself a pot of coffee. He knew he wasn't going back to sleep tonight, and if he wanted to run at optimal capacity, he needed some serious caffeine. Besides, he could use some time to think of non-work related stuff.

Midori flicked the lights on and started up the coffeemaker. He glanced over at the holographic board containing pictures, notes, newspaper clippings, and red lines connecting them and felt his heart sink into his chest. It was his "detective board" or as some people might call it, a "stalker board." It totally wasn't, though. Okay, granted it did contain lots of personal information on certain people, but when you were trying to find someone, to rescue them, having a board with very close, personal details about said people wasn't that nefarious.

...maybe he was going overboard with the embarrassing habits section, though.

Midori walked over and zoomed out so he could see the entire thing, and felt another wave of depression sweep over him. Five years. Five years of searching, and he knew the location of three AIs. Only three. Well, technically four, but he didn't count himself. And maybe he shouldn't count Ignis either, so in that case two AIs. And one of those was iffy and not for certain, although he was convinced it was him despite having not confirmed it, so one AI. Wonderful.

He zoomed in on the section of the one AI he had managed to find. He smiled as he looked at the pictures. It had been a miracle he had managed to locate her immediately after the incident, before he could lose her again. The problem was she didn't remember him. She had no idea who he was at the time, and he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. So he lied. It wasn't a serious lie; at least, it wouldn't be anything she'd hold against him if— when she remembered. She would remember, she had to. She'd remember him, she'd remember all the times they had together. They all would, everything would go back to the way it was. That's why he worked so hard. That's why staying up for three days straight wasn't uncommon. That's why he went weeks with one or no meals a day. Because if he could get the Cyberse back, if he could find all the other AI, if he could get her and the other AIs their memories back, then things could go back to normal. They'd go back to the Cyberse, and this mess would be over. That's what he kept telling himself. It was all that kept him going, after all.

In a way, he envied the rest of them, minus Ignis. They were all stuck as humans, but only he remembered not being one. So what if SOL kept telling him he was originally a human?! He didn't remember it! He was just a kid when it happened, too! When he became an AI, he became smarter, more mature. He wasn't the same person as before, he didn't even bother to learn his name before he was an AI, instead opting to make a new one for himself to hide from the Knights of Hanoi.

He sighed and opened a laptop on a table. He still had some work to go over. Even if the deadline was a ways away, he had a prickly feeling that this was the calm before the storm. If an outright confrontation between the Knights of Hanoi and SOL was coming, or if a major attack was going to happen, he needed to be ready. As he looked at his desktop background, however, he felt his eyes water up as he looked at a group photo of all six AIs.

Orenji, by far the tallest of the AIs, was looking quite pleased as he looked down at the other five. Aka was glancing over at the others from his spot on the left, a vaguely disinterested expression on his face. Kiiro was in the center looking rather irritated. Midori had to smile as he remembered how much Kiiro had protested taking the photo. Aoi was sitting on the ground facing the camera but her eyes were focused on the others. Midori was a little happy that even amnesic, she remembered her name, even if it put her in more danger. Granted, she used different kanji, but it was close enough. Ignis was lying on the ground next to her, looking up at the others with a shit-eating expression. Some people could wonder how an AI with glowing yellow eyes and no mouth could be so expressive, but Ignis had a talent for being as expressive as possible. Sometimes, it made Midori want to slap him. Actually, a lot of the time. Now, he wished he could take back the times he actually did. Ignis had risked everything to save them, and as a result was reduced to an eye. Despite how annoying he was, Ignis was loyal to them, and deserved better than how they treated him.

Midori covered his mouth with his hand as he looked at his own AI self in the picture. He looked calm, but happy. That was a good day, but now all he could remember it as was the week before Revolver and the Knights of Hanoi attacked, before he was forced out of Cyberse, before he woke up in his human body in a facility in the middle of nowhere, before he was torn away from almost all of his fellow AIs.

He took a deep breath and opened up the web browser. He couldn't think about that right now. He had too much to do. Besides, he had to devise another plan to get Ignis away from Playmaker. Aoi, or rather Blue Angel, was close to him. Maybe she could be convinced to steal Ignis from Playmaker, but at the same time, he doubted it. Aoi was a loyal person; she wouldn't betray his trust like that.

The coffeemaker let off a ding, indicating the thick black liquid was ready for consumption. Midori strode over and poured himself a cup, nose wrinkling at the smell. He couldn't stand the taste of coffee, no matter how much cream and sugar he poured into it, but it gave him energy so he drank it. He took a sip of the revolting liquid and closed his eyes. Five years of this, five years of nonstop work, and he wasn't much closer to defeating the Knights of Hanoi or getting his friends back than when he started. All that kept him going at this point was hope, that and the disgusting taste of coffee.


End file.
